District Administration - April 2012 - (Page 45)

By Ed Finkel Widening Participation to an T A new IB Career-related Certificate program will pair academic rigor and international focus with technical training. he global economy demands globally educated workers and citizens. About 1,300 schools in the United States—and a total of about 3,200 in 141 countries worldwide—have turned to the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum as their ticket to educating students who are worldly-wise. “Globalization is costing jobs and, really, the American dream,” says Stephen Spahn, chancellor of The Dwight School in Manhattan, which in 1979 became the first school in the United States to offer the IB. “How are you going to create people who remain competitive at all levels of society? It is equal opportunity that’s at stake here.” But only 25 or 30 percent of students in IB World Schools are taking the program. “The diploma program is not for all,” says Jeffrey Beard, director-general of the IB. In September, however, IB will add a fourth curricular option aimed at those who don’t feel academically prepared to enter the diploma program and don’t necessarily plan to attend a fouryear college. This International Baccalaureate Career-related Certificate (IBCC) program, which will pair some of the same academic rigor and international focus with technical skills training for juniors and seniors, has been in pilot phase for the past several years. The pilot schools include Binghamton High School in the Binghamton City (N.Y.) School District; Benjamin H. Hardaway High School of the Muscogee County (Ga.) School District; Granite Bay High School of the Roseville Joint Union High School District in Granite Bay, Calif.; Western Hills High School of the Fort Worth Independent School Dis- IB Education trict in Benbrook, Texas; Patrick Henry Senior High School and Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis Public Schools; Poudre High School of the Poudre School District in Ft. Collins, Colo.; and Oconomowoc High School of the Oconomowoc (Wis.) Area School District. About 100 more schools in the U.S. have applied to follow in the path of these pilot schools this fall, when the program launches. “This increases student access,” says Albert Penna, principal at Binghamton High, which in 1996 became the third public high school in the United States to adopt the IB diploma program. “[IBCC] blends very nicely the academic, international and career pathways.” Big Future for IBCC Spahn of The Dwight School believes that IBCC eventually will dwarf the regular IB program. “Whereas you might have 500,000 students doing the diploma program in the United States, I see 5 to 10 million students doing the IBCC,” he says. “Every school has kids who are passionate about digital photography, computer applications, making films—where we are capturing their interest so they have a career. This is a step that is really critical for America.” IBCC differs from typical vocational-technical education in several ways, Spahn says. First, an early course called “Approaches to Learning” instills in students a sense of how each academic discipline builds their knowledge. “You are skilled at beginning to integrate knowledge from different resources. No vocational www.DistrictAdministration.com April 2012 45 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2012

District Administration - April 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Special Ed Update
Facilities Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Robust and Safe BYOD
Success Breeds Success
Funding Building Projects in a Tough Economy
Widening Participation to an IB Education
Why All the Chatter about #EdChat?
Supervisor’s Opinion
Going Mobile
New Directions
Crisis Response
Student Counsel
Product Focus
Online Edge

District Administration - April 2012